I recently purchased this saw in order to re-tile a 46 year old bath whose (original!) tiles were falling off the walls. I'd used a small Craftsman wet saw previously (borrowed) for a smaller floor replacement but wasn't thrilled with it and wanted to buy something a little better put together.
The saw is well put together for what it is. The only thing needed upon receipt was to unpack and attach the included blade, I was up and cutting practice tiles within minutes. I filled the water reservoir with a funnel, which worked well the duration of the cutting. The one included blade was enough for me to finish my tile job entirely. Cutting speed was reasonably fast, I fed ceramic tile through at about 0.5 in/s or so pushing moderately. It cut as cleanly and as quickly at the end as it did at the beginning and I cut most of the tiles for the entire shower on this saw.
The area I tiled was a floor, bench and 3 walls for a standing shower, roughly 80 square feet. The tile was a mix - glazed ceramic tiles (6x12"), marble edge trim, and marble 1 ft mosaic sheets. This saw cut some of this well and others not so well. It was worst with the mosaic sheets (more below). To get a clean edge on those, I had to rent a more capable saw from the Home Depot.
General notes:
The saw is not very heavy, which was both good and bad. I'm male, 39 yo of medium build. It was easy to move around when I needed to (pro). I did notice was that the saw slightly shifts around over time (especially when cutting the ceramic tile) and needed to be re-seated every so often (con). The legs don't seem to have any way to be anchored to a table or bench, they are just legs with rubber footers.
It's loud when actually cutting tile, I recommend ear protection.
The saw says it's good for up to 12 inch tile, and I agree with that. I wanted to cut a shower bench out of larger format (12x24") tile and some sort of extension table would be required. I ended up cutting that on the rental saw.
I used it (off an on) for probably 6 weeks (I'm a weekend warrior and maybe not even every weekend!), by the end there was some minor surface rust. It buffed out with steel wool. I think this is minor and pretty typical, the Craftsman did the same.
PROS:
- The saw is very inexpensive relative to a more capable tile saw. Renting a saw for 1 day from Home Depot was $70. That nearly was the cost of purchasing the Skil Saw
- The markings are very accurate, I found that the table measurement matched my tape measure post-cut on the ceramic tile within 1/32" easily if I took care setting the table. Once the fence was set and tightened, it never drifted unless intentionally re-set.
- It's relatively neat - water doesn't go spewing everywhere if you are careful setting the blade guard
- It's small and light and can be put about anywhere, I mounted it ontop of a small table in the garage
- It's easy to clean - since it's light, I just dumped the water out. In places where tile gunk had dried, it was easy to scrape off.
CONS:
- Cut quality is moderate overall, but it strongly varies by what is being cut. For the 6x12 ceramic tile, it was good - I would say the same quality as for the much higher quality / more expensive saw I rented. Just minor chipping of the glazed edge. However, for the marble edging and especially the small pieces of mosaic tile, it left a lot of large chips and gouges.
The biggest single issue I had with the saw was that for the mosaic tiles, it was nearly impossible to keep a straight edge. My mosaic was small curved pieces. This saw is designed as to feed forward with you pushing the tile through the blade - and cuts from below. For a mosaic sheet, it was not possible to evenly feed it through the blade. The mosaic sheets just aren't rigid enough to be fed through this way cleanly. I tried several things, pulling vs pushing, pushing it with a board, I even made a small sled to slide it through - nothing really worked. The blade just doesn't cut through those pieces quickly enough. It also lifts the small pieces as they pass through the blade and makes jagged, crooked, sometimes broken edges. I tried loading bricks on top of the mosaic sheet to keep it from lifting, which helped some, but at best I would say the edges waved by almost a blade width (so maybe 1/8" edge-to-edge or a little more). Frequently the edges pieces would pop large chips or even just break. The more expensive saws use a feed table to keep tile sheets straight, and cut from above with a larger radius blade - eliminating this problem.
- The miter attachment is mediocre at best. It has a *tiny* setting marked in in 5-degree increments. It is very hard to set to something exactly so trial and error (and wasted time and tile) was required. In addition, it had a small amount of give which made each cut vary slightly. 45 degree mitered edge cuts that were intended to join at a 90 degree angle were difficult to execute. I did eventually get it to work for all my mitered pieces, but they weren't perfect.
- The fence is a bit of a pain. You set it by means of two wing-nuts. Tightening those wingnuts to tighten up the fence can frequently slightly shift the fence, so you have to tighten then loosen then shove a bit and re-tighten. It eventually gets there but it takes longer than it should. Also, the thing is marked in 1/8 inch increments between 1 inch major ticks and no large tick at the half or quarter. So to get to something at +7/8" you have to count all 7 small ticks from the last inch tick on BOTH sides of the fence (you can't count down from the other side, because the fence itself covers the ticks). It'd be nice to have larger half and/or quarter-inch tick marks. Also - there is enough play in the fence that is possible to set it such that one side is off the other by accident, especially if the table is covered in murky water when you're setting the fence (see next note). Should you do this, the saw will most likely stall and you will have to throw that tile away or put it in the salvage pile. It happened to me a few times.
- The table surface doesn't drain all that well, so murky water mixed with tile crud frequently covered the etched-in length markers. Cleaning frequently is required (I used paper towels)
So, in summary - for the money it's not a bad saw, it's even a good saw if you're doing some jobs - like ceramic tile and mostly making straight cuts. And it really is an entry level price, so that's not unreasonable. If you're going to be doing anything a little fancy, the saw starts to really show it's limited utility and I think it'd be time to consider picking up a more capable saw.
| Brand | Skil |
|---|---|
| Color | Red |
| Blade Material | Stainless Steel |
| Surface Recommendation | Stone |
| Power Source | Corded Electric |
| Special Feature | Brake |
| Included Components | Flooring & Tiling Bench Tile Saw |
| Product Dimensions | 17.32"L x 15.16"W x 7.52"H |
| Voltage | 120 Volts |
| Amperage | 4.2 Amps |
| Warranty Type | Limited |
| Item Weight | 18 Pounds |
| Speed | 3600 RPM |
| Blade Length | 7 Inches |
| Number of Teeth | 60 |
| Cutting Angle | 45 Degrees |
| Manufacturer | SKIL |
| Part Number | 3540-02 |
| Item Weight | 18 pounds |
| Product Dimensions | 15.16 x 17.32 x 7.52 inches |
| Country of Origin | China |
| Item model number | 3540-02 |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Size | 1-(Pack) |
| Style | Wet Tile Saw |
| Material | Blend |
| Item Package Quantity | 1 |
| Special Features | Brake |
| Batteries Included? | No |
| Batteries Required? | No |
